Chapter One
Billie Brown likedto keep her day tidy. It was a deal she’d made with herself a long time ago. Thirty minutes before a client arrived for an appointment, she would cross the floor several times and check everything was as it should be. Twenty minutes before, she would watch people coming and going out on the street, the bustle of London settling her in a way she couldn’t describe. And fifteen minutes before, she would retreat to her office and wait for her assistant to arrive.
At 9:01, the latch on her office door clicked.
She didn’t bother looking up. “You’re late.”
Billie felt Nina hovering in the doorway, likely with the posture of someone who knew what was coming. Shoulders back, chin dipped, with an apology ready and waiting. She set her pen down and relaxed into her high-backed leather chair. As she eyed the clock, Nina took a breath.
“I’m sorry. The signals on the Jubilee line?—”
“Mm.” Billie inched her seat back a little as she glanced down at her list of clients today. All very wealthy, and all expecting the Brown & Co. treatment. And they would get it…when she’d finished here. She lifted her head and eyed Nina across the room. Slate skirt, silk bow at her throat, her hair pinned backin a braid as expected. All ordinary details thatneverstayed ordinary in this room. “Close the door.”
Nina shut the door and clasped her hands in front of her.
“Come here.”
The click of heels over the oak floor quietened when they met the expensive rug to the right of Billie’s desk. Nina stopped at the corner, exactly where she was supposed to.Obedience had a geography, and Nina had learned the map in no time at all. That had been the first thing to catch Billie’s attention. The second had been Nina’s hands. Steady with swatches, but often trembling in Billie’s presence.
“Tell me the time,” Billie said as she looked up at her assistant.
“9:01.”
“And what do we do with 9:01?”
Nina swallowed. “We don’t make it a habit.”
Billie nodded slowly and cast her gaze to the window. Another grey London morning. Then she turned her attention back to Nina without flinching.
“Wrist.” Billie lifted a hand and turned her palm up.
Nina placed her wrist in Billie’s hand, her skin cool to the touch. Her pulse quickened under Billie’s fingertips, then grew a little faster when she did nothing but count.
The ribbon at Nina’s collar had gone crooked. Billie itched to fix it, but she kept her mind on the task at hand.
“Bend.” She nodded to her desk as she lowered Nina’s wrist.
Nina bent over the desk, her hands splayed against the wood in anticipation.The pose did what it always did. It reminded Billie who was in charge here. A few strands of hair had freed themselves at the nape of Nina’s neck, but Billie chose not to fix that either.
“Lift your skirt.”
Nina gathered her skirt with the same neatness she exhibited down on the shop floor. Still, it wasn’t theatre; it was ritual. The difference mattered.
“We keep time here,” Billie said as she trailed her knuckles up the back of Nina’s thigh. As always, her assistant wasn’t wearing underwear. “We keep standards because we like what standards allow.” She grazed the back of her hand over Nina’s pretty pussy, smiling when her legs shook. “Do you understand that?”
“Y-yes.”
“Are you sure?” Billie nudged her legs further apart and slipped a finger inside. “Or do you do this with the expectation that I’ll inspect your aching pussy when you disobey me?”
Nina pressed herself harder against the desk as she clenched around Billie. “N-no.”
“Up.”
Nina straightened, her eyes dark when she turned to face Billie. She looked down at her as though being touched had become some kind of relief for her.
Billie pushed her chair back further and crooked two fingers. “Sit.”
Nina stepped closer, and Billie guided her in with a hand on her hip. She straddled Billie’s leg, facing her, every ounce of attention firmly on Billie’s face.
